Chapter Eight

“Open the door, Serena. I know you’re in there,” a familiar male voice shouted. The pounding on her front door jolted Serena out of what had been a heavy sleep.

Holy crap, what time was it? She groped around the unfamiliar room in the dark for the light switch.

“Serena!” More pounding.

She rolled out of bed. “I’m coming. Hold on.” She had to search for her bathrobe, finally locating it on a chair in the corner. She tossed it on over her t-shirt and yoga pants.

The pounding continued. “Serena!”

She peered out of the small window by the front door. She could just make out the figure of a tall man in the shadows cast by the inadequate porch light. It was either Sam or Gabe. God, they even sounded the same! No. From the tense expression on his face and the anger in his voice, it had to be Sam.

Damn. Why hadn’t Gabe let her tell Sam in the morning? She would have been showered and dressed, and her brain wouldn’t be fuzzy with lack of sleep and coffee.

She undid the dead bolt and cracked the door open. “I’m here, Sam.”

He lifted his face and sniffed. “So, it’s true. You slept with him. How could you? What the hell happened?”

Serena looked out into the night. “What time is it?” She was still on East Coast time and after her very full day of travel and stress she’d fallen into bed at eight o’clock. It was very dark outside and this area of the compound looked totally deserted.

“It’s around eleven.” Sam shook his head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think. I usually work nights, so—”

“I get it.” Reminding him of the lateness of the hour somehow calmed him, so she took one more look around the area at the row of dark cabins, then let him in. “Would you like some coffee? I think I can figure out how to work the coffee maker.”

“No.” Sam paced past the small seating area, from the kitchen by the front door, to the fireplace, and back. He stopped, his face twisted in anguish. “What happened?”

“Didn’t Gabe tell you?”

“No. Yes.” He pushed his hair out of his face. “I don’t know.”

His much longer hair than his brother’s. She stared at Sam. They were so much alike and yet now, she was starting to pick up on the differences—Gabe with his hair cut military-short, and Sam with his hair too-long—falling in his blue eyes like an absentminded rock star.

She sat down on one of the large leather seats, sinking into its well-worn cushion and wishing she could just curl up and go to sleep, instead of dealing with all this raw emotion face-to-face. On the dreamscape, where she handled her patients, there was always the option to wake up and make it all go away. But Sam, with his hurt written all over his face and his big hands tight with anger, was right here. All six foot four of him. And he wasn’t going away without answers.

“Please. I need to hear it from you.”

This wasn’t how she’d planned it. She’d decided she was going to tell him in a public place—a restaurant, a coffee shop. Anywhere but here, in what was now supposed to be her home, where his giant frame towered over her, making the small room feel even smaller.

“Sit down, Sam. You’re making me nervous.”

Something fierce and alpha crossed his face, and for a minute, she wasn’t sure if he would. But the pack conditioning of years of females being in control must have taken over, because he threw himself into the leather chair opposite, his long legs and arms overflowing to the sides. “Fine.”

There was a long moment of silence where she struggled to find the words to tell him what had really happened.

She sighed. “First of all, you have to remember that you two are twins.”

“But you knew that! I talked about my brother Gabe, I texted you all the time about him.”

“I didn’t know. I would have remembered if you’d ever said your brother was your twin.” In fact, she’d gone back over every text they’d ever shared and examined them for any evidence that Gabe and Sam were twins. But Sam had never said ‘twin’. Never. “It doesn’t make it right. I’m sorry.”

“Christ, I can smell who you are from a mile away.” He grimaced.

“I’m not a shifter, Sam, I’m a dreamwalker. My wolf is on the inside. I feel her, like you feel yours, but she doesn’t enhance my physicality.” She made her own face. “Trust me, this is not the first time my lack of being a shifter has caused problems. You try growing up basically human in a family of shifters. They all have superpowers that I don’t have. They’re super strong, super fast, and super sensitive. They can tell if food is going bad when the refrigerator door is closed. But not me.”

The fight seemed to go out of him, and he slumped in the chair.

“Do you love him?”

She gave a short humorless laugh. “Despite what you might think, I don’t even really know him. Or you, for that matter.” The tension jumped back into his body and she instinctively moved back. “Sam, we’ve barely met. I’ve mostly texted you. Yeah, we get along and yes, those kisses that night were amazing.”

Not just the kisses—they’d had a connection. It was one of the reasons she’d taken the job. Had she made a mistake? Had her wolf’s desire for a potential mate superseded any real attraction?

“But that’s us. What about Gabe?”

“I don’t know him either.”

“Then forget about him.” He leaned forward, his bright-blue eyes burning. His wolf wasn’t far beneath the surface. “I need you, Serena.”

Inside, her wolf howled in response, and the push of arousal came hard and fast. She shoved it back. That definitely wasn’t from her and she wasn’t about to let her inner wolf decide who she took to her bed.

“I promised Gabe I’d give him a chance.”

“Fuck your promise.” He stood up faster than human speed and crossed the room to her chair. Bending down, with his face close to hers, he braced his hands on the chair’s armrests, caging her in. Suddenly, she was reminded how big and strong he really was.

“Sam—” Anxiety pitched her voice higher.

He rubbed his cheek on hers. She knew what he was doing—branding her with his scent, trying to cover the smell of Gabe that likely still lingered on her skin, even after she’d showered.

“Sam, stop.”

A shudder ran through him, and he pulled back a few inches. “You’re seeing him?”

“Yes.” He was too close and too big, but she kept her voice calm and in control, just as she would if she were seeing someone on the dreamscape.

“But you have to give me equal time. An equal chance.”

“Okay. I can do that.” She slid out from underneath his body, which was half-blocking her way out of the chair, and stood up. “But tonight, you have to leave. Now.”

“One kiss?” He reached out, his big hand encircling her arm.

She stiffened, then reconsidered and made her body relax. After what she’d given Gabe, maybe she should give Sam at least one kiss tonight, just to see how it felt. “One.” She gave him a stern look. “And then you go.”

He nodded. He wrapped her in his arms and pulled her in close. At five foot eight she was reasonably tall, but to meet his lips, her face was forced to tilt up at an angle. She fought her body’s desire to resist and lifted her mouth up to his.

Their kisses last month had been hot, and she’d craved each and every one of them. But this one was all one-sided. Sam’s mouth closed on hers with brutal force. He kissed her as if the pressure of his lips alone would force her to remember him. To choose him.

Her wolf pushed her to give in to Sam’s dominance. This was what her wolf wanted, a strong mate, one who would take care of them and keep them safe. For a moment, her need to push back fought with her wolf’s need, and she didn’t know what to do. Her wolf wanted him, but this wasn’t the man she remembered from a month ago. While Gabe in the meadow had seemed familiar, and so much like her memory of Sam, Sam himself was a stranger.

She pushed him away. “Okay, that’s enough.”

Sam’s hold stayed tight. His eyes were wild and hungry and, for a second, she wasn’t sure he was going to let go. The panic inside her threatened to take over, but finally he let go, and she moved fast for the door.

She opened the door for him.

He stopped short, right on her heels. “We’re supposed to have breakfast tomorrow.”

At this point she wished she could just cancel. She was exhausted and confused and the idea of getting up tomorrow and facing all of this again seemed like too much. But she’d promised. “Yes. Can we make it later though? Say ten?”

“Sure,” he said and walked out the door. “I’ll pick you up.” She closed it fast, leaving a gap no wider than the width of her body.

“I think I have a car here I can use, and I need to run some other errands. Why don’t you text me the address and we’ll meet there?” She kept her smile bright and cheerful.

He frowned, but nodded.

“Great. I’ll see you in the morning.” She closed the door fast and locked it, leaning against it just as she had earlier in the day when she’d gotten back from her encounter with Gabe. She stared into the little cabin’s unwelcoming interior. “Serena, what the hell have you gotten yourself into?” Two men. A new job that looked like certain failure. And all of this miles away from home.

She went into her bedroom and crawled back into the bed, curling up on her side on the lumpy mattress. She missed the fun, lighthearted relationship she’d had texting with Sam. Now, he was a pissed-off alpha with a wolf pushing him. There was no knowing what would happen and she was here in Colorado, miles away from her support system. Her throat tightened with held-back tears. Suddenly she missed her overbearing family with a sudden fierceness that had her aching and longing for home.